Motherhood and Beyond...

Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands~ Psalm 112:1

Last Saturday, after a long day of preparing for a house full of company, my husband and I loaded the kids up in the car and took them to dinner at a buffet. After a bit of a wait we were seated next to a family with three children who all appeared to be under four years of age. I hate to admit this, but I was far less than thrilled to be seated next a family with little kids. After a long and stressful day I was really looking forward to some peace and quiet.

 I needn’t have worried. The kids were sweet, super cute, and very well behaved. But it was the Mother who captured my attention. She was absolutely amazing with her kids. She was cheerful and calm as she held the two-year-old on her lap, talking to him quietly about table manners and trying new foods while still managing to keep an eye on the baby and calmly direct the older boy. 

Watching that amazing young woman for an hour reminded me that Mothers are really the unsung heroes of human history. If it were not for the sacrificial contributions of women throughout history, no great civilizations would have been be constructed, no books would have been written, no masterpieces crafted and no righteous causes fought for because no people would be around to do any of those things.

A good Mother appears to be nearly superhuman. She requires practically no sleep to survive. Her hearing is so fine-tuned that she can identify the subtle sound of a two-year-old sneaking into a bathroom cupboard at the other end of the house with the TV on.

Her powers of perception are so highly refined that she can accurately sense when a child has had a bad day and needs to talk or when a teenager is plotting something shady. A mother’s ingenuity knows no bounds; she can produce a tasty feast from the weird stuff in the back of the pantry and create an award winning science project out of an empty soda bottle and an old poster board.

 A mother’s influence is perhaps the most powerful force on earth. Every person on earth has been shaped in a significant way by the impact of his or her Mother. Perhaps the most striking proof of a Mother’s importance is how drastically we feel the loss at a Mother’s absence.  For those of us who are lucky enough to be mothers, we too have been shaped by the experience. Mothering is a powerful act that effectively changes the destinies of all involved.

Nurturing children is a mission that all Christians agree is crucial. In recent years churches and Pastors have gone to great lengths to underscore and celebrate the importance of Motherhood. This is a very good thing. In a society that has devalued the art of mothering it is vitally important that Christian leaders encourage women as they nurture and train up the next generation.

For women without children Mother’s Day can be tough. In our eagerness to promote the importance of parenting, we subtly send the message that Mothering is the only really important thing that women can do. This message is a dangerous one that hurts all women, especially those without kids and those older women who may feel that their value has been diminished once their children are grown and gone.

 As valuable as motherhood is, it is essential for all of us to remember that there is more to who we are as women than whom we parent.  On this day that we rightfully set aside to celebrate the countless contributions Mothers make in this world, I want to remind women that motherhood is not the end of our journey towards biblical womanhood. It is simply a step that many of us take in the journey.

God has called Christian women to be…

In a constant pursuit of wisdom and knowledge~ Proverbs 4:7, Proverbs 2:6

Courageous~ 1^st Chronicles 28:20

Able to teach and pass on wisdom~ Proverbs 31:26, Titus 2:3-5

Loving and respectful towards our husbands~ 1^st Peter 3:1-8

Building up the Body of Christ~ Ephesians 4:11-13

Using our unique gifts for the betterment of others~ Proverbs 31: 8-9, Proverbs 31:20

A woman’s greatest power is found in her ability to influence other people. The quality of influence a woman has will largely depend on the quality of her relationship with God. A women who is seeking to be and do all that she has been called to be and do, regardless of the stage of life she finds herself, will become a powerful force for good in this world and a blessing to those whose life she touches.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised~ Proverbs 31:30